Ethanol Stocks Rise

By DTN Staff

OAKHURST, N.J. (DTN) -- Ethanol inventory in the United States edged higher in the final week of July as demand fell after two straight weekly gains, down 1.1%, while production backed off an 18-week high, date released Wednesday, Aug. 5, from the Energy Information Administration showed.

At 20.346 million barrels (bbl), domestic ethanol stocks added 74,000 bbl in the week profiled yet were down more than 12% versus a year ago.

During the week profiled, the 9,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) blending activity drop was below that of the prior week's 14,000-bpd hike, the data showed. EIA reported net refiner and blender ethanol inputs of 844,000 bpd in the week ended July 31, down 10.7% from the same time in 2019. Blending activity during the four weeks ended July 31 averaged 839,000 bpd, about 100,000 bpd below the comparable year-ago period.

Ethanol plant production fell 27,000 bpd in the week profiled, a little more than half the hike of the week prior. At 931,000 bpd, ethanol plant production was 10.5% lower than the corresponding week in 2019. Four-week average output is down 112,000 bpd against a year ago at 932,000 bpd.

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